Monira Al Qadiri

This work is a continuation of the artist’s exploration into the material and cultural legacy of oil extraction in the Arabian Gulf. In researching the long cultural and economic history of Pearl diving and the pearl trade, once the main economic driver of much of this region before the discovery of oil, the artist discovered a formal relationship between pearls and oil; they share the same color. Based on the shapes of oil drill heads used for drilling, these alien-like sculptures allude to the invasive nature of this oozing substance from the deep, a substance that has forever transformed our bodies and landscapes.

Monira Al Qadiri

Father of Pearl
2016
Silkscreen prints 70 x 50 cm each, 42 prints

An almost invisible pearlescent silkscreen print based on a painting the artist made from the only surviving photograph of her late grandfather. In the first half of the 20th century, he worked as a singer on a pearl diving boat in Kuwait, traveling around the Gulf and to Iran, India, and Africa. When seen from the eyes of today, this pre-oil world of sailing and pearl diving seems to reside in the realm of pure fiction, a detached and invisible world to the people of the region today, despite numerous efforts to revive it. This work describes the artist’s feeling towards this disappearing history, and her absolute inability to grasp or understand it.

Monira Al Qadiri

Prehistoria
2016
Five hanging aluminum panels 1 x 1m each 3 + 2 AP

These aluminum panels are cut in the shapes of various technical drawings of patented oil drills. To the naked eye their forms can often resemble marine creatures, decorative patterns, or science-fictional tools. Here, the artist renders them into hanging ‘illusions’, their shadows and reflections creating a sense of awe and wonder in the viewer. The artists imagines that in the future the oil industry and its inner-workings will appear as a cryptic ancient reality, an illusion of past dreams, where shiny aspirations and mirroring fantasies cast their shadows on entire landscapes and peoples.

Monira Al Qadiri

Travel Prayer
2014
Video 2.5 minutes 4 + 2 AP

A scene from a camel race is playing out alongside childish music and a voice reading a traditional prayer for travel. Because of laws prohibiting the use of children as camel jockeys, each camel is outfitted with a small remote-controlled whipping machine on their back. The whipping machine is usually made out of a modified automatic drill, covered in a decorative fabric to hide its rudimentary construction. The camel owners follow the camels around the track in their pick-up trucks, yelling and encouraging the beast to run faster. The pain of the majestic animal is reflected in its face and movement, running aimlessly towards oblivion.

Monira Al Qadiri

Behind the Sun
2013
Video 10 minutes 5 + 2 AP

After the first Gulf War in 1991, countless oil fields in Kuwait were set ablaze during the retreat of invading forces. Those months following the war were nothing short of the classic image of a biblical apocalypse: the earth belching fire and the black scorched sky felt like a portrait of hell as it should be, an almost romanticized vision of the end of the world.
In this work, amateur VHS video footage of the oil fires is juxtaposed with audio monologues from Islamic television programs of the same period. At the time, the tools used to represent religion were geared towards visualizing god through nature. Trees, waterfalls, mountains, and animals were the visual staple of religious media, and the narration was not that of the Koran, but of Arabic poetry recited by a skilled orator with a deep voice.

Monira Al Qadiri

Cosa Nostra
2016
Flowers and glass vase 30 cm Edition of 10

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Part of ‘Flora Powers’ project by Paloma Powers
“Cosa Nostra” literally means “our affair”, but also refers to the infamous “Black Hand” mafia organization - an entity formed by humans but gradually taking on its own agency, shifting from organization to invasive organism. Under the artist’s guidance, an alliance of dark Calla lilies, purple Vanda orchids, and magenta carnations invade a giant artificial pearl (which is itself an alien form, created by bacteria entering the mollusk shell). Both the pearl and the flowers shimmer with petroleum glamour, color-coded to reflect the colors of wealth production in the Gulf, and the “seepage” of these anxieties to current affairs.

Monira Al Qadiri is a Kuwaiti visual artist and film maker born in Senegal and educated in Japan. In 2010, she received a Ph.D. in inter-media art from Tokyo University of the Arts, where her research was focused on the aesthetics of sadness in the Middle-East region stemming from poetry, music, art and religious practices. Her work explores the relationship between narcissism and masculinity, as well as other dysfunctional gender roles. She is currently expanding her practice towards social and political subjects. She is also part of the artist collective GCC, who has recently held a solo exhibition at MoMA PS1 in 2014.She has held solo exhibitions at the Sultan Gallery, Kuwait (2011 & 2014), and Tokyo Wonder Site, Japan (2009). Her participation in collective international exhibitions includes: "DUST" CCA Warsaw, Poland (2015), "Whose Subject Am I?" Kunstverein Dusseldorf, Germany (2015), "Accented" Maraya Arts Center, Sharjah, UAE (2015), "The Return of Ghosts" Hong-Gah Museum, Taiwan (2014), "Never Never Land" Edge of Arabia Projects, London (2014), "Exposure" Beirut Art Center, Lebanon (2013), “X-Apartments” Home Works 6, Beirut, Lebanon (2013), “50/20” Sultan Gallery Kuwait (2011), “Paradiso” Watermill Center, New York (2010), “Tokyo Wonder Wall” Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo Japan (2008), and “In Transition Russia” Moscow Center of Contemporary Art (2008). Her videos and short films have been screened at: Berlinale - Berlin International Film Festival (2014), "Where is My Territory?" Whitechapel Gallery, London (2014), "Parle Pour Toi" Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris (2014), Medrar Cairo Video Festival, Egypt (2014),“Aboveground Animation” New Museum, New York (2012), “Art Screen” Obrero, Sweden (2012), “Arab Shorts” Arsenale, Berlin (2012), and the Gulf Film Festival in Dubai (2008 & 2009) among others.